Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival

Like Anne Frank, Flory Van Beek was a young girl caught in the ruthless Nazi occupation of Holland. But Flory survived to recount her extraordinary story of persecution and survival. Flory and her husband, Felix, endured the sinking of a ship bound for safety in the New World, the increasing danger of the occupation, and finally a life in hiding. This inspiring account vividly captures the terror of the Holocaust while telling a poignant story of love and courage.

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Publisher's Summary

Like Anne Frank, Flory Van Beek was a young girl caught in the ruthless Nazi occupation of Holland. But Flory survived to recount her extraordinary story of persecution and survival.

Flory and her husband, Felix, endured the sinking of a ship bound for safety in the New World, the increasing danger of the occupation, and finally a life in hiding. There, cut off from the outside world and their families, they faced the hunger and stress of daily life in confined quarters along with the ever-present threat of discovery and certain death.

This inspiring account vividly captures the terror of the Holocaust while telling a poignant story of love and courage.

What the Critics Say

"I have always believed in survivor's testimonies: they are unique. It is impossible to understand the Holocaust and its meaning without becoming acquainted with their experiences, which they alone can tell with true authority." (Elie Wiesel)

This is an autobiography or perhaps a better term is a memoir of the author's experiences hiding from the Nazis during WWII. The story is well written, clear and to the point. The narrator does an excellent job.

As moving and gripping as earlier stories told of the WW2 holocaust. This harrowing tale tells the story of Holland and the personal stuggles of the people who barely managed to survive against the odds. A truely historic personal account of one girls triumph. Lest we forget!

All survivors of genocide deserve to be heard, and Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival is a book which holds the memories of a survivor. I finished this book thinking about how to review it. First, the reader is perfect for the book. "Flory" certainly isn't literature, it isn't even particularly good writing, but what it is, the telling of a story recreated from memory, diaries, newsclippings, and conversation, is worth reading. Before this book, I'd never thought of the people in the north of Holland during the occupation, but after reading it I definitely have a feel for what they went through. The characters presented are largely undeveloped, but the ugly story is told in a soft, tentative voice, and I was able to finish it and think about it because of the author's method of writing. I would recommend it to a reader seeking understanding of the human story.

I hated history in school but if I had had this book I think I could learn to love history. This was real life, in the raw and the people and their courage and their giving and their sorrows. I have listened to this book several times and have come away with a better awareness of today each time. I highly recommend it. I thank Flory for giving us her story.

I'm stuck, same as the author, of how Germany's people could go along with such terrible crimes. The German people were top in many of their engineering and art fields. Education abounded. The lesson: no country or peoples are immune to committing atrocities on other peoples.

The writing in this book is not polished, but the story is so amazing that I wish everyone could hear it. Flory and her family suffered and survived horrifying Nazi cruelty during WW2. Even at the worst of times, however, there were kind, decent, courageous people willing to help save the Nazis' prey. Many times in the book, members of the Dutch underground describe themselves and others simply as "good citizens". Unexpectedly, this story of cruelty and evil was also a story of strength, kindness and good.

performance was choppy and no inflection in voice; in defense of reader however the story itself was written like an essay in high school what I did last summer. this was more like someone reading from trite entries in a diary.

Was Flory worth the listening time?

could not wait for it to end. I went on internet to see her story because this book was so dull and lifeless that I was not sure I would read the whole thing

This is a fine book and a good memoir of a truly horrifying time in the authors life. I do not mean to take anything away from that and I'm hesitant to find any fault because of the circumstances. However in the context of the holocaust her story never really took me into the terror that it meant to be Jewish in Nazi occupied territory. She hid out with some families involved in the resistance movement and I could not help but wonder if their story would have been a better book.

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